Mobile devices equipped with wireless transceivers can connect to a network when in proximity of an access point to the network, commonly referred to as a base station. The area surrounding a base station where the signal strength is sufficient for access is commonly referred to as a “hotspot.” Hotspots can range from a single room to many square miles of overlapping hotspots. Connectivity to a network through a hotspot can intermittently fail or drop when traveling between hotspots. In some locations there may be no hotspots available. In such locations, the only access to the Internet may be through a cellular phone network.
To enable subscribers to access the Internet, some carriers provide their subscribers with a portable wireless transceiver card (e.g., a PCI card) that plugs-in to a notebook computer and provides access to hotspots (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMax) and cellular phone networks. Such a card, however, only provides network connectivity to the mobile device hosting the card. Other users in the same location who have mobile devices that can only access, for example, a Wi-Fi network, will be denied access to the cellular network. Moreover, the card will use up a slot in the mobile device I/O that the user might rather keep free for another device (e.g., a memory module). Finally, having a separate card means another piece of equipment that can get lost, damaged or stolen.